Our PMs, not exactly PRIVATE are they?

[Candy]

What a surprise! Im really shocked.
Shame on the forum for allowing this to happen.
Seems is this place run by Homeland Security or the TSA or something?

 

[Denim Deb]

I've been on forums B4 where mods read the PMs and people got banned for what they wrote in them! So, I learned a long time ago NOT to post anything in a PM that I don't want someone else to read.

 

[Emerald]

I've been on forums B4 where mods read the PMs and people got banned for what they wrote in them! So, I learned a long time ago NOT to post anything in a PM that I don't want someone else to read.

I too have been spied on in another forum.. didn't get banned but couldn't figure out just how someone knew of a private conversation between me and another member. we were not even taking smack or anything just discussing "girl stuff" that is normally chatted about out in the open here. but not there.
I'm not too surprised tho. Plus it would take a totally desperate person to need to comb thru our PMs to get addresses to sell.. But it does want to make ya give them a good when you "KNOW" that some one has been snooping around in your bis-natch!!!

 

[Dawn419]

Found that out a looooonnnnng time ago when a rogue mod was causing trouble and mentioning things that had only been discussed via PM. Other mods denied that this would/could happen but the proof was in black and white, so I lost all faith in that claim way back then.

You didn't mention if it happened on this forum, Bee, but I will tell ya'll for a fact that as I Mod here, I cannot access anyones PM's but my own.

I've contacted Nifty about this situation.

 

[Nifty]

Let's all take a conspiracy theory break and relax for a minute.

Nobody has access to read or change PM's except me, and doing so is actually a big pain (I have to write a SQL query, go into the back end of the database, run the query, parse the data, etc.) In addition, I ethically and morally only look into PM's when there is a report of a problem of spamming, porn, significant abuse, etc.

I can 100% GUARANTEE that, as the sole person with access, I have not been accessing and editing any PM's on this forum.

If you have examples of stuff that you think has been manually read / changed, please IMMEDIATELY copy and forward me the PM with specific examples of what changed, and I'll look into it. It is possible that someone else may have access to your password or account and we take security VERY seriously.

 

[Nifty]

Also, regarding cases where members had "private information in a PM brought up by a moderator": Please be aware that:

1) Moderators 100% DO NOT HAVE access to PM's
2) It is super easy for the person to whom you sent a PM to then forward it to a moderator.

That second item IS VERY IMPORTANT to understand. We often get reports of primate message abuse or messages that bothered someone and the member FORWARDS THAT PM TO A MODERATOR. I can guarantee that this is the ONLY way a moderator will gain access to a PM that you wrote, is by it being forwarded by another member.


Those that know me, and have known me for a long time, know that I shoot straight. I'm sorry that there are some that don't know me well and won't take my comments above as being trustworthy, but I definitely have more to loose by having a bad reputation than I have to gain by sneaking around reading and modifying PMs.

Again, I look forward to getting copies of edited PM's so I can investigate. If people also have concerns about private PM's being forwarded to moderators, then stop sending PM's to people with content that makes them want to report it.

 

[Nifty]

Hi all!

I've not received a single message from anybody with examples of PM's that have been changed. I'm anxious to look into it since we take security and privacy VERY seriously.

FYI: We've had similar reports of this over the years here, BYC, other forums I own, etc. and in all of the cases it was never a case of our team reading and/or editing PMs.

Again, we need you to help us get to the bottom of this. If you have examples of something you think was changed via PM please send it over.

 

[Nifty]

Hmmm.... still no PM examples of things peeps thought we've read or changed?

As I've been digging into possible answers I did discover one thing: Over the past 6 months we've had a flood of spammers using our system to promote links. This is common with internet communities, but we've seen a much higher rate since the first part of the year and we started getting reports from members. This being the case, we added some spam URLs to our spam filter system and these may be automatically filtered out / changed.

Again, this is NOT a case where PM's are read, but a full automated system and only impacts those that are sending links that our system is considering spam. If you think this has happened to you and you have a link that our system mistakenly marked as spam, please let us know!

And to make it 100% clear: Nobody besides me has access to PM's and even though I have access, doing so is a total pain and I avoid it at all costs. If you have any questions or concerns please PM me, I'd be glad to help!